The Corn ETF’s Surprising Opportunities

The global commodities glut has rocked big companies, emerging markets, and investors who looked to ride the wave through related exchange traded funds heading into this year.

Corn isn’t discussed as much as oil, gold, or steel but its reach is broader than any other commodity, save oil.

Sal Gilbertie, President of Teucrium Trading, recently sat down with us at our annual ETF Boot Camp to discuss, of all things, corn. Well, more specifically the impact the glut has had on his company’s Corn ETF.

Sal shares some fascinating facts about how the corn market works and why huge price fluctuations occur.

Like what happens when you mix constant demand with a drought? Find out below!

"I get phone calls from brand-name PE firms," David Dinenberg, chief executive of Kind Financial, whose firm provides financial services technology to the cannabis industry, said in an interview. "They're curious about the industry."

"It's an ambitious project, spearheaded by the Laurel Canyon Assn. and the Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife. . . It's impressive to see the residents of Laurel Canyon try a different way to keep open land in their community before it can be turned into houses and parking lots."- LA Times Editorial Board

Watch Stern & Co. client David Dinenberg, CEO of Kind Financial on CNBC Closing Bell discuss legal cannabis deemed the fastest growing industry by ArcView research. Click below to watch this fast paced interview with a full panel of CNBC hosts and financial journalists asking David to explain the market and the barriers to entry and what Kind Financial will do to streamline the financial solutions for legal cannabis businesses trying to get started.

The marijuana business is exploding but there's one tiny catch: Many businesses can't get loans. Enter David Dinenberg.

Why I Started A Financial-Services Firm for Pot

Most of us chase the American dream, so we know the drill: Think up an idea, gather our thoughts into a business plan, put our tax returns in order, then it's off to a bank.

But for the hundreds of entrepreneurs chasing the dream in what has become what some are calling the fastest growing industry in America, there is a major roadblock. Medical marijuana is legal in 24 states and Washington DC and also recreationally legal in four of those as well. At least a dozen more states have laws on the books or are about to be signed into law.

But marijuana is not legal federally. Like heroin and LSD, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 drug. Federally, marijuana is restricted in all forms — including medical marijuana research. So banks, which contend with interstate commerce, can't give a loan even in those 24 states. Same with Small Business Association (SBA) loans.

he bipartisan proposal in the Senate by Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) would not legalize medical marijuana in all 50 states. Rather, it would respect the states that set their own medical marijuana programs and prevent federal law enforcement from prosecuting patients, doctors and caregivers in those states.

So, for financing, even in the 24 states where it's legal, cannabis entrepreneurs either raise the initial start-up money from friends or family, or take the road show route or dig into their own pockets.

I, too, chase the legal cannabis dream. Without personal resources, I put together a business plan and pounded the pavement. Lucky for me, I found the rare investors who share my vision and provided a seed investment so I could start Kind Financial. Kind Financial is the first full-service financial solutions resource strictly for the cannabis industry.

For the past decade, we have been looking for an industry to evolve as global outsource renders as obsolete so many U.S. industries. Now we have a winner. Cannabis has already generated billions in revenue, hundreds of millions in tax generation, tens of thousands of jobs. And it's made in America. Cannabis could be — and should be — a macroeconomic solution for the United States. But when and if the U.S. removes cannabis from Schedule 1 is anyone's guess.

David Dinenberg is founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Kind Financial, a financial-resource providing a financial solutions for the cannabis industry. A former real estate developer from Philadelphia who is no stranger to raising capital, he's using his skills to help companies in the legal cannabis industry that are being denied basic business services. David is building Kind Financial to be the "GE Capital" of the legal marijuana industry. Follow him on Twitter @daviddinenberg.